Keeping the grandkids happy and occupied can sometimes tax the most creative mind.  Here are a number of activities you might like to think about.  They're easy to do and cheap to fund and should keep them happy for hours.  

If you have any ideas we can pass on to other grandparents use our CONTACT US form to share it with us and we'll share it with our readers.

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FEED THE FACE

You’ll need:

• A large box
• Some extra cardboard
• Coloured paper, markers or paint
• Plastic balls from the cheap shop

​Decide what character you’re going to feed.  Probably because Easter has just come and gone we chose a rabbit.  You don’t have to have an animal face, a monster face might appeal more to your grandkids, or a clown, or anything that seems appropriate.
 
Cut a hole on one side of the box for the mouth, large enough to allow easy entry for the plastic balls. Now cut ears to suit your character and glue them to the back of the box.  Cut a tongue shape that’s long enough to reach from the centre of the box to at least 20cms in front.  You can use red coloured card or just paint whatever card you have on hand.  Paint or drawn a face on the front of the box.

​Now place the box an appropriate distance from the starting line, according to the age of the children playing, and get them to bowl the plastic balls so that they feed into the mouth.  You can keep count of how many each child gets into the box and make it competitive, or just let everyone have a go.

POOL NOODLE PONIES

You'll need:

• One or more pool noodles.  (Get them from your local discount or pool store.)
• Googly eyes. (Again from your cheap store or craft shop.)
• Some coloured felt, material remnant or even a coloured kitchen cloth.
• Thick  synthetic string, or whatever string or cord you might happen to have.  You'll need enough to tie a bridle around the head and have some length for the reins.
• ​A felt pen.

What to do:

• Cut a mane and ears for your pony from whatever material you have on hand... felt, cloth, or a kitchen wipe.
• Measure your string to have enough to tie the head in place, like a bridle, and also enough left over on each end for the reins.
• Fold one end of the pool noodle over to make the head.  Make the fold large enough to have a decent sized head and still have a good length for the body.
• Slip the ears under the fold
• Double the string over to find the centre and then tie the folded end to body to create the head.  Knot securely.
• Glue the googly eyes on each side of the head.
• Glue the mane to the top and back of the head
• Draw the nostrils on with the felt pen.

Now your grandkids are ready to ride the ranges on their trusty steeds. "Heigh Ho Silver!"

MAKE A MARBLE MAZE

You'll need:

• A shoe box lid
• Large plastic straws
• Square, oblong, round or ovals piece for the corners and blockers. Don't worry if you don't have anything suitable.  You can cut bits of the straws to fill the same function.
• Glue or a glue gun
• Poster or other paint

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What to do:

• Layout your maze using the various elements, cutting the straws to size as needed and placing whatever other bits you have. It's easy to do this within the box lid and then transfer the piece to a flat surface in order, so you can easy glue them on. Make sure you include some deadends and difficult turns to create a challenge.
• Paint the shoebox lid a bright colour.
• Starting at one side, glue the piece of the maze in place on the inside of the lid making sure you leave enough room for the marble to easily manoeuvre  the lanes and turn the corners.  The tighter you make the lanes, the easier the maze will be so leave enough room to create a challenge.
• Test your maze with a marble and see if it can make it from start to finish by tilting the box lid to guide the marble.

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SHOEBOX FOOSBALL

You'll need:

• A shoebox
• 4 bamboo skewers
• 10 wooden clothes pegs
• Some bluetak
• A small foam or polystyrene ball
• Scissors or a box knife
• Metal skewer
• Two contrasting colours of paint

What to do:

• Start by cutting a rectangle at each end of the box for the goals.  The bigger the rectangle the easier it will be to score.
• Make four small holes on each side of the box at right-angles to the goal ends.
• Paint the clamp ends of five of the pegs one colour and then paint the other five a contrasting colour.
• Push a skewer through the hole on one side nearest the goal and then through the hole on the other side.  Clip two coloured pegs to the skewer as shown in the picture.
• Press a blob of blutak on the pointy end of the skewer to make sure it doesn't come out of its hole.
• Push another skewer through the next set of holes and clip three pegs of the same colour to it as shown.  
• Repeat with the other end of the show box using the other coloured pegs.
• You're now ready to take on all comers at foosball.

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SHAPE MATCH

Here's an easy one for toddlers.  It's quick to make and very beneficial in helping them to learn to match shapes.

You'll need:

• A large cardboard box
• Some coloured felt
• Velcro tape
• Scissors
• Felt pen

What to do:

• Cut your cardboard box open to form a flat square or rectangle big enough to accommodate multiple shapes.
• Cut a series of different shapes from your coloured felt, several of each. You can do a simple square, circle and triangle or more advanced shaped such as diamonds, hexagons and stars for older toddlers.
• Draw the shapes on the cardboard either in columns as in the picture or randomly.
• Cut a piece of velcro tape to the centre of each shape and stick it down.
• Now put the felt shapes in front of the cardboard and show your little one how to match them to the drawn shapes and press them down on the velcro to hold them in place.

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